Display MoreCharacter actor Richard Riehle typically steals any scene he appears in… and Wing Commander IV is no exception! Blair's interactions with Pliers' lighthearted grump is maybe the funniest part of your time aboard the BWS Intrepid… and when you think about it, he's actually responsible for some pretty complex gameplay mechanics under the hood! Like a lot of Wing Commander IV's outside-of-flight ('gameflow') mechanics, exactly what your interactions with Pliers are doing isn't always 100% clear… so we thought we'd take a closer look to see how things work. One of Wing Commander IV's goals was to expand on Wing Commander III's pretty simple division between interactive cutscenes and flight portions… and they accomplished quite a bit under the hood so that the choices you make (or don't make) impact other parts of the game pretty significantly!
One note on terminology. The HANGAR BAY is where you typically visit Pliers in the bowls of the ship. The CONTROL BAY is where you make your ship and loadout selections. When you first meet him he is on the LAUNCH DECK which is the Intrepid's flight deck.
The Once and Future Cloaking Device
One thing Pliers is known for his his work-in-progress cloaking device that you're allowed to try multiple times in the game. If you choose not to defect at the first chance then you'll miss the first opportunity to try the cloaking device. Pliers offers it to you in the Hangar Bay before E2, the mission where Vagabond and Sosa infiltrate the comm station. If you choose "this thing could be very useful…" instead of "I can't trust this guy" then you'll have access to the cloaking device. Since it is a solo mission regardless of your choice, there is no downside to using the cloak. You'll get a comm from Pliers confirming it's active when you start the mission. The cloaking device will function for the start of the mission but after you destroy the radar buoy you'll get a comm from Pliers that he "miscalculated the half-life of that crystal" and that it will no longer work.
"Who needs wingmen?" vs. "I prefer a wingman." Your second opportunity to use the cloaking device comes in the Control Bay and depends on whether you choose rescuing civilians at Circe or collecting weapons at Speradon. If you choose Circe then it will be offered before the final mission of the series, K4A/K4B. That's the mission you must pick after the Catscratch incident and either version can be flown with the cloaking device instead of a wingman. If you make the somewhat less moral choice and head to Speradon then you end up having more options: Pliers will let you use the cloaking device (again instead of a wingman) before L1, which lets you choose LA, LB or LC to be your cloaking flight. In either case, the cloaking device will fail after the third decloaking and Pliers will send you a comm informing you that it's out of juice.
The Speradon Upgrades
If you decide to side with Hawk and collect weapons at Speradon instead of rescuing civilians at Circe (or if you're playing the PlayStation version), you are given the opportunity to unlock two of three special weapons based on the missions you choose to fly. If the chosen mission is failed then the weapon is not added to your inventory. Pliers is responsible for explaining these upgrades after you earn them… and in the case of the Starburst missile, it spawns an extra mechanic where he'll eventually upgrade them into a new missile of his own design! These stories are told primarily through voiceovers that play over the weapons selection screens in the Control Bay.
Bearcats: Selecting and winning Mission LA: Steal Fighters (Speradon) adds the Bearcat fighter to your inventory for the rest of the game. The Bearcat is available as a selection in a total of five missions, though the most of these that you can play in a single run is four. If you flew LA as your first selection in Speradon, you will be able to fly the Bearcat for LB (Attack Plant) or LC (Attack Carrier) . It will be available in N1A (Jump by Ella), N3 (St. Helens) and N4 (Try Again).
Starburst/Coneburst: Selecting and winning Mission LB: Attack Plant (Speradon) adds the starburst missile to your inventory for the rest of the game. The ship selection screen in the following mission (either L2 or L3A/B) will introduce the weapon:
We scored some prototype ordinance which I'm anxious to see field tested. One of them is code-named Starburst and it appears to be some kind of charged-particle burst bomb with an engine attached. When you launch it, keep the trigger down until you want it to blow. Then hopefully the safety will keep it from going off in your face.Before L4A/B, Pliers will begin considering how to upgrade the starburst:
Starbursts. Good for hitting big and something a long way off... but I think it'll need some old Pliers magic before it'll be more useful.And then he will add the cloudburst to your inventory starting with Mission M2: Blair's Jump (Callimachus) with one of the greatest voiceovers of all time:
Boy does that Starburst bomb suck. Guess that's why it was still in testing. Well, I've been tinkering with it, made it more useful. Instead of bursting all over the place it all blows forward in a cone shape. Like some big shotgun. Someone's gonna shit.Interesting trivia: the game is smart enough not to give you a custom loadout (with conebursts or otherwise) for M3 in which you escape Axius. The Black Lance ground crews always give you the default loadout!
Mace: Selecting and winning Mission LC: Attack Carrier (Speradon) adds the mace missile to your inventory for the rest of the game. The ship selection screen in the following mission (either L2 or L3A/B) will introduce the weapon:
We got some ass kicking loot from that weapons depot. Try out the Mace missile sometime. This sucker's got a proto-nuclear warhead on it that'll take out more than its fair share. Just launch and hold the trigger till the safety clicks off. Then release to explode. Boom!The advice here is correct, too: if you're just using the Wing Commander IV Mace like the Special Operations 2 iteration then you may be missing out. If you hold down the trigger after firing the missile then it'll explode when you release it! It's a neat trick for taking out entire formations of enemy fighters at once.
The Weapons Upgrade
If you've chosen Speradon, Pliers will make you another offer in the control bay before the last mission of the series (L4A/B): "how'd you like a little extra punch on board for your next mission?" This lets the player choose between "I could use the extra firepower" or "I got a need for speed." Choosing speed makes no change but what does choosing extra firepower actually do? Extra firepower gives you one extra torpedo hardpoint on one ship… and the ship is determined by whether or not Catscratch is dead! If you chose to abandon him in L3B or if you failed to rescue him in L3A then the Avenger gets an extra torpedo hardpoint (for a total of five). If he's still alive then the Vindicator gets it instead (for a total of four). This isn't as big a help as you'd expect, though, because this happens so late in the game that you can only theoretically fly the 'Super Avenger' once or the 'Super Vindicator' twice! And the second chance to fly the Vindicator with an extra torpedo is the Telamon landing… a mission with no capital ships!
Fly the Lance?
Whether or not you fly the Lance (Dragon) to Telamon seems like a simple choice but it actually has a longer tail than you might realize! Pliers asks in the Hangar Bay if you want to try the ship and you can choose between "let me at these babies" and "they could be death-traps." This choice chooses the next mission for you: if you pick the Dragon you fly M1A and if you stick with the Vindicator you fly M1B. If you fly the Dragon you'll be attacked by unknowing Border Worlds fighters while the Vindicator will have to fight Black Lance Forces. The cutscenes on FT957 are different, too, with the locals reacting less enthusiastically if you land in an enemy ship..
It turns out this also impacts the default ship selection for the rest of the game! If you fly the Dragon here, it will be your 'default' selection for the rest of the game… but if you stick with the Vindicator, you'll default to a Border Worlds ship whenever one is available. This means that the Pliers choice at Telamon is also deciding what you'll fly in N2, the scramble where you first face the Vesuvius. If you flew a Dragon at Telamon you'll continue flying one there… but if not, you're stuck in a Banshee!
Flashpak
If the Flashpak is still available at the very end of the game (ie, you didn't use it to destroy Ella) then Pliers will give you one more chance before you fly N4 ("it's now or never" vs. "too risky." in the Hangar Bay) There are no long term repercussions here as the game has run out of road! Note that if you destroy Ella without actually firing the flashpak you WILL still get a chance to carry it a second time here.
Pliers' Morale
There's still one mechanic we don't quite understand… if it exists! Wing Commander IV updates Wing Commander III's morale system quite a bit. It applies the system to fewer pilots (Maniac, Catscratch, Hawk and Panther) but also tracks it for Dekker and Pliers. But what does having low morale do? According to the game's shooting script, Pliers' morale should impact your ship performance and change the speed… but we haven't been able to recreate this. It also suggests that there were different reaction shots intended to represent this when you set your loadout… but the game doesn't include these.
loadout - pliers' morale high -d2
CONDITION: Pliers' morale is HIGH.
Pliers is standing and grinning at the loadout terminal.
loadout - pliers' morale low -d2
CONDITION: Pliers' morale is LOW.
pliers is sitting and looking glum at the loadout terminal.
LOADOUT NOTES: The above two "indicators" of Pliers' morale will continue throughout the game.
Whatever ship Blair chooses, its performance will be dependent on Pliers' morale: IF Pliers' morale is HIGH, it will have a little extra kick (50 kps more than the specified Maximum Velocity?). IF Pliers' morale is LOW, it will drive a little sluggish (50 kps less than the specs?).
Pliers will still be helpful no matter what you do. He just won't be friendly — and he won't make offers twice when he feels he's been slighted.We know that the game does track Pliers' morale and that there are two pure morale-impacting which don't affect your loadouts or missions. When you first meet Pliers on the launch deck you can choose "bet this old coot knows what he's doing" or "here's a guy they should have put out to pasture.":
Then after he takes apart your Hellcat (no big loss!) you can choose how to treat him in a Hangar Bay conversation. "Well, he is resourceful" vs "I knew this guy was trouble..":
Every other choice listed above also impacts his morale. But we've tried going through the game with just the bad options and haven't noticed any change to ship speed. It's possible this feature was never implemented… or that we're missing something! Have you ever had your ship get slower or faster based on Pliers' treatment?
